Jones, Garrett smart to show restraint when Jenkins asked for trade

In football, just as in life, sometimes the best thing to do when faced with a difficult situation is nothing at all.

Just ask Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett, whose Dallas Cowboys are benefiting from the restraint they showed this summer in dealing with an unhappy player.

Facing a diminished role after the Cowboys signed Brandon Carr in free agency and selected Morris Claiborne in the first round of the draft, cornerback Mike Jenkins asked for a trade. He also expressed his displeasure with the turn of events by choosing to stay home in Florida rather adhere to the club’s wishes that he rehab his surgically repaired right shoulder at Valley Ranch.

But rather than react emotionally to Jenkins’ fit, the Cowboys took the high road, calmly insisting repeatedly throughout the summer that they had big plans for the fifth-year pro.

So there was Jenkins on Sunday against Tampa Bay, logging 31 of the defense’s 60 snaps and six special-teams plays in just his second game back. Among the key plays in the Cowboys’ 16-10 win was Jenkins’ late third-quarter break up of a deep ball intended for Vincent Jackson with the Bucs trailing by just three points.

“That was actually my first time even using my arm like that,” the team’s website quoted Jenkins as saying. “Going through practice, I never got a chance to actually go all out and jump up for a ball…I felt pretty good.”

Jones and Garrett undoubtedly did, too, knowing that they’re refusal to react in a knee-jerk manner to Jenkins’ trade request is paying dividends.

“There’s been a business side to football for a long, long time,” Garrett said
Thursday. “Read the story on Pudge Heffelfinger when he first signed his contract (to become the first pro football player in 1892). It’s a good story. But that’s been the nature of this thing forever…You don’t get emotional about it. You say, ‘OK, I understand what his motivations are, how he might perceive this. Let’s communicate to the best of our ability what we’re trying to get accomplished.’

“We really like Mike Jenkins…We just need to be patient with his injury. He needed to fight through some of the business aspects of this decision, get him back here, embrace him and get him going. That was our philosophy all along.”

True to their word, the Cowboys looked for ways to get Jenkins on the field more once he got healthy. Aiding in that effort was Carr, who enthusiastically moved to safety last week because of an injury to Gerald Sensabaugh and because he knew it would allow Jenkins to get more snaps.

“Brandon embraced this opportunity,” Garrett said. “He saw he could help our team. It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, I’m a cover corner. You’ve got to leave me there.’ It was, ‘Hey, I can do this. I haven’t done it (since high school), but I can do this.’ ”

With Carr, Jenkins and the rest of the corners playing at a high level, Dallas is tied for seventh in scoring defense (18.0 points) and is first in total defense (250.0 yards).

“You can’t have enough cover corners,” Garrett said. “Quarterbacks in this league can really throw and the receivers can run routes and make plays. If you don’t have enough cover guys, you are really limiting yourself on defense. We value the position really, really highly…and having a lot of numbers there is important to absorb the injuries that seem inevitable during the course of a season.”